I have had pretty low energy lately which has made working difficult, and the other day I just did not feel like working at all so I decided to play some poker. After 3-4 hours of building my $200 up to nearly $800, I started to get bored of grinding it out and lost all of it shortly thereafter after moving up limits purely out of boredom. This is always what happens.

After that, I needed something to expend energy on, and since badminton just finished and wouldn’t be available for 4 days, I decided to reinstall good old Starcraft.

Starcraft has never failed to entertain me, and within minutes I was already immersed back into the 12-year-old best game of all time. I basically spent the past 3-4 days (how long it really was I can’t remember) playing Starcraft and sleeping. I did a fair bit of sleeping. In fact, just yesterday I slept for 10 hours, got up for 1-2 hours, then had a 2-hour nap! Then I went to bed only 8-9 hours later and slept for another 7-8 hours!

I did do a tiny bit of work during the past 3-4 days, but it was mainly just writing yesterday’s blog post, and since it was about buying a house it wasn’t too labour intensive to write.

A couple hours ago I uninstalled Starcraft (after losing several games in a row which frustrated me), watched a couple of episodes of Family Guy, and then went to my computer to get back to work.

I grabbed a Red Bull, worked on trimming down some of my unanswered e-mails, and am now writing this blog post.

It was probably the Red Bull, but as I started this blog post I felt real good. Reenergized.

Although to be honest, my eyes are starting to tire right now so I’m going to need to take a bit of a break after I finish this post.

Nevertheless, the effects of my little gaming marathon over the weekend are showing. I am once again interested and somewhat excited about working again. I have a new little project I’m going to be trying with affiliate marketing which I’m curious how it will turn out, and it will feel good to get caught up with the rest of my unanswered e-mails.

Even though I felt really lethargic and hazy over the past few days, I think that avoiding work for the most part was good for me. It was certainly needed.

For those of you who don’t do this for a living and work for yourself at home, you may not realize that this is usually a 7-day, 365-days-a-year job. I work every day, in some capacity. Even when I’m on a vacation I bring my laptop and my Blackberry.

After a while this can really accumulate and have an effect on you when you’re not getting those 2 full days off work that most people get by working a ‘real’ job.

I have to agree with Rob. That really isn’t the kind of schedule you want to be keeping.

I do agree with you on feeling stressed etc. When I don’t feel like working I take a break as I know I will get nothing productive done when I’m tired. Though I think you’re overall lifestyle needs a tune up.

I would recommend going down the gym a few times a week. I train 6 times a week. Not only does it wake me up, it gets me out of the house and helps with my sleeping patterns too (which used to be bad years ago). You will feel less lethargic and more energised if you start looking after you and your body. Don’t start relying on red bull, which is incredibly bad for you, that’s a short term fix at best, and using it regularly long term can do some serious damage to your heart.

I know you play badminton regularly, but if you can’t manage to do that, why not take up another sport or perhaps yoga for flexibility (which is very important if you work in any desk job due to numerous hours in a sitting position).

Yeah I know what you mean. I think I have that SAD disease. I love Scotland but it’s so depressing in the Winter. It’s cold all the time and it gets dark about 4.30pm every night, it drives me nuts.

I think the challenge is a good idea. It should motivate you to keep better habits. Though I personally find these challenges, and diets in general, don’t work. You need to change your whole lifestyle. Change soft drinks for water, change chocolates and crisps for fruit, stop fast food etc.

When I was travelling years ago the weight started to creep up on me because I was eating crap and drinking most nights. What I found that changing your whole lifestyle at once doesn’t work. Do small changes and over time you you will stick to them, rather than completely change everything at once (which is another reason why most diets fail).

You sound like me, except you’ve been suffering from it longer than I have.

The “it” I’m referring to is the general malaise that occurs after you’re able to make a full time income on websites even when the work you need to put in to maintain that income is considerably lower than 8 hours a day.

I feel lazy all the time and it’s hard to get motivated if I’m earning more than enough money to get by without putting in an 8 hour day.

Maybe you need a REAL break from work online.. maybe 1 month in another country. That break from your regular life, in another part of the world, another culture, could do wonders for your motivation levels and drive – plus you’ll likely come back with 10x new ideas to fuel you.

Tyler, I used to go thru the same thing and I decide to schedule my week out. Basically, at the start of the week, I try and schedule everything I’m about to do during the week, from work to meetings if any, to social outings (not many!) to TV shows and so on. This way, you feel good about following a well-planned routine and are never caught off-guard with time shortages or deadlines either.

I used to get in lazy moods back when I was working on my websites full time. I think it is just inevitable when you put in a lot of long hours in front of the computer. You definitely need something to take your mind off your work occasionally. I don’t think a weekend long gaming marathon is really the best solution though. A couple hours of exercise each day would be much better.

Yeah, sometimes I get so much work and everything that I don’t have time to stop. But it’s really important to catch a break now and them. Your mind need to be recharged ALL the time. That’s why we have to sleep every day.

Your posts seem so repetitive. Always about poker, your movie site that seems to be a (very) lost cause, what you’re doing at the time, or some silly contest that nobody will participate in. Change it up, Tyler. Your blog used to be fun.

It’s true that taking a break which can make a lot difference on your work, because mind also need some refreshment and relax, so it is really must necessary to take a break, to be more successful to come back with good enthusiasm.

If your slightly addicted to work (like me) then working 7 days a week feels better then working only 5 (even if you make no money ) . Also, if you like what you are doing, it doesn’t feel like work.

Anyways, I have no empathy for you. Your the one who constantly says in this blog ” I ussually only work 3 – 4 hours a day “.

And, where’s publisher challenge been? I don’t have anything to live for if I can’t throw money that I don’t have at campaigns that make no money for thrill of winning ( and consequently making you rich ) .

Hi, thanks for sharing your day to day experience and I agree that everyone should take a break for tiring work. We have some things in common like in my case when I’m really depressed I play DOTA, then drink “COBRA” energy drink.